a hot tub under the stars, and other reasons to rent this desert haven

Anyone enamored with the desert be warned: This place might require what’s left of your vacation days. Sara and Rich Combs, designers and owners of The Joshua Tree House, are delighting us once again with a new rental. (Meaning, you can do way more than just pin this house--you can stay there)! The Casita is a smaller rental, also in Joshua Tree, fit for four guests in search of a well-styled, breathtakingly beautiful getaway. And yes, there really is a hot tub under the stars, meaning we’d likely spend far more time outdoors than in.

tell us about the casita. how did this project come about?

After quickly falling in love with Joshua Tree after a one night visit, we couldn’t get the magic of the hi-desert out of our minds. We found and fell in love with The Joshua Tree House (a Craigslist find!) in 2015. After renovating that space and being able to share it with like-minded people who appreciate the calm of the desert, we couldn’t help ourselves but to design another space to share.

While we knew that we wanted to renovate another house in Joshua Tree, we found the Casita much sooner than we expected. Once we stepped foot onto the property, neither of us could bare the thought of never returning. So, we put in an offer, and a couple of bids later the Casita was ours!

a hot tub under the stars,

and other reasons to rent this desert haven

text by Shani Silverphotography by Sara & Rich Combs

what overall aesthetic inspired you/came to lie in this space?

Joshua Tree itself has a very special feel that is full of character. New and shiny just doesn’t feel right to us here, so our goal was to find a lot of vintage pieces but modernize them with a western boho vibe. The true reason we fell in love with this property was the landscape. The house was somewhat outdated and needed quite a bit of work, so the property was the main attraction. There are so many amazing plants and animals to see at the Casita, so we wanted to bring the outdoors in as well with some cacti and other plants throughout the house.

what is your favorite memory of designing this space?

We bought a 1969 International Harvester Scout to help us haul materials for the renovations, and well, because it’s really fun. Many nights we would be driving back to the Casita from Home Depot in the Scout, materials all loaded up as the sun would be starting to set. Having the windows down and playing Led Zeppelin on the way home surrounded by the pink and purple sky was always a special moment.

We also loved all of the collaborative projects that we worked on for this space. Planning and designing with some of our favorite artists and designers was so so fun!

One of the best parts of Joshua Tree is the slower pace of life. Here, it feels like there’s time to enjoy the sunrise, make drip coffee, and head to a yoga class. We wanted to thoughtfully bring that slow pace of life into the design of the Casita. We chose to include a record player, lots of places to lounge (like daybeds and hammocks), vintage books and board games, piles of blankets, and plenty of plants and crystals to add to the coziness and good energy of the area.

We were also really excited about curating many of our favorite artists and designers into one space to make a sort of mini gallery at the Casita. Many of the artists with work in the house are local to the JT and LA area, like bkb ceramics, Blockshop Textiles, and Lasso Abode. We are also very excited about some custom work that was made custom for the Casita, like the wooden artwork by Aleksandra Zee, the macrame by my very own mom, Angela Rossbach, and black and white photographs taken around and near the property by Julia Kostreva.

This was our first time doing full bathroom and kitchen renovations. Both spaces were completely gutted, so every step from there felt like a true challenge for us. From finding contractors to show up, to finding contractors that knew what they were doing, to at points giving up entirely on outside help and watching many many YouTube videos so we could do the work ourselves. At one point, we had the kitchen countertops scheduled to arrive after being notified that our cabinets were in. When we went to pick up the cabinetry, only one drawer had arrived and we found out that the rest of the pieces had been backordered (new information to us). We were about to head out of the country for a friend’s wedding, so scheduling everything was a bit stressful!

Friends that we showed the space to before renovations, and then again after we were finished were stunned that it was still the same space. They were circling around trying to figure out how that was possible! From guests, we love hearing that they never want to leave, and that the space is a dream. That’s when we know we did our job well!

We really love the pace and focus of life here. We feel much more connected to nature, and love that our homes are just as much about indoor space as they are outdoor space. Some of our most magical memories are sitting outside seeing wildlife such as coyotes or tortoises pass by, or watching the sky transform throughout the day from sunrise to sunset to the deeply starry night sky.

what is one thing you wish everyone knew before vacationing in this beautiful place?

We would want people to know that for all of the inspiration that this place gives us, we owe the land and wildlife here a lot of respect in return. While it’s so fun to see the animals here, it’s best to give them their space and just watch from a distance. A place like the desert that at first sounds barren, is truly full to the brim with life.